ESPN Coverage of NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship Overnight Up 20%

The 2017 NCAA Women's National Championship between No. 2-seeded Mississippi State and No. 1-seeded South Carolina (April 2, 2017 at 6 p.m.) delivered a 2.4 overnight on ESPN, with a streaming average audience of 59,500 viewers and a total of 211,000 viewers watching 8,205,000 minutes. The overnight for the Gamecocks' 67-55 victory is 20% higher than last year's women's national championship game and the highest rating for the championship game since 2014. The game easily becomes the most-streamed women's basketball finale ever.

The 2.4 overnight, in addition to being up 20% from last year's championship game (Syracuse vs. UConn on Tuesday, April 5), is also a 4% increase over the 2015 game (Notre Dame vs. UConn on Tuesday, April 6). While it is the most-streamed Women's National Championship game ever, South Carolina's first-ever women's basketball national championship victory also had a significant higher streaming audience than last year's game in all major metrics: Up 75% in average minute audience, 63% in total viewers and 83% in total minutes watched.

Combined with Friday night's semifinals (7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. on ESPN2), the three-game Women's Final Four averaged a 1.8 overnight, also a three-year high for the event - up 13% and 6% from the 2016 and 2015 Women's Final Four, respectively. Per game, fans streamed more than 4.5 million minutes action, a new Women's Final Four record and up 57% from last year. Additionally, an average of 175,000 total viewers streamed each game, up 106% from last year. The average minute audience per game was up 40%.

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